Letter to the Editor

July 8, 2003

As we read the article on the front page of last Wednesday’s Portales News-Tribune concerning the removal of unused vehicles from private property, we were saddened and somewhat frightened to think that in a free country a government agency could and would seize personal property and remove it from private property.
Even worse is the fact that these vehicles were already on this property when the city decided to annex this into the city limits.
Are these vehicles creating a bad stench or loud booming noises? If so, we would go along with the forced removal of them. If not, then anyone offended by them doesn’t have to look at them.
A person has to pay property taxes on a piece of land and then has to comply with all the restrictions a government agency puts on them. Somehow this doesn’t seem fair to us.
Maybe if they are going to tell people what they can or cannot do with their private property, we should do away with property taxes.